Music breaking barriers

MONTHLY RECOMMENDATIONS: July 2018

Imperial Triumphant – Vile Luxury

With a sense of modern disgust of the metropolis and a touch of retro-futurism, the band’s aesthetic is perfectly attuned, and their music simply embodies it. Dissonant, at times polyrhythmic, murky, and hopeless, Vile Luxury will sicken you; and I love to be sickened. The eight songs on record each have their own soul, so they can be picked apart rather easily, even through all the muck.

Journal – Chrysalis ordalias

Journal are one of the most insane and technical bands out there, and, on Chrysalis ordalias, their lead guitarist took on vocal duties as well as keeping his role as master shredman. They also put out some of the most energetic sets on stage, so be sure to go and see them if you have the opportunity!

高円寺百景 (Kōenji Hyakkei) – ドリンビスカ (Dhorimviskha)

Dhorimviskha, with its runtime of over an hour, is sure to give plenty of pleasure to the prog fan, and plenty of headaches to the uninitiated! It meets the high expectations and standards set by the band over its career, but fails to explore new grounds. This is an exemplar album, but it’s a relatively safe bet from Kōenji Hyakkei. Don’t except anything new and earth-shattering—that is, if you already went through the seismic event that getting acquainted with the band in the first place is—, but, if you relish the musical heritage of the Japanese band as I do, this will be a welcome addition to your collection!

The Mercury Tree & Cruptic Ruse – Cryptic Tree

By joining forces with a microtonality connoisseur such as Igliashon Jones, the band is able to distort their expertise of progressive music to an extreme degree, and, so, the Cryptic Tree EP easily puts itself at the top of this month’s best releases. Being a novelty that’s enjoyable for all of its qualities: the musicianship, the song structure, the harmonic ideas, the rhythmic intricacies, and so on and so forth until there’s nothing left.